Help available to Bay County veterans who need a ride to the doctor or some extra cash

BAY CITY, MI — Gripping the handle bars
of Eugene Robinson's wheelchair, Tom Brady pushes the 88-year-old World War II
veteran down the walkway of the Caretel Inns of Tri-Cities assisted living
facility.

Brady navigates the wheelchair onto an electric lift that
hoists Robinson into the back of a blue, handicap accessible van. Brady straps
the chair in and prepares Robinson for the drive to a doctor's
appointment in Saginaw Township.

Brady, a Vietnam era veteran, is coordinator of Bay
County Veterans Transportation, a service run by volunteers that shuttles
Bay County veterans to and from
medical appointments, some as far away as Grand Rapids and Ann Arbor.

"Whatever we need to do to help a veteran, we do it," he
said.

Bay County's veteran ranks are growing again as more soldiers return home from the Iraq War and from Afghanistan. That is creating demand for services such as the medical shuttle offered by Bay County.

With five volunteer drivers, two vans and one car, Brady said more volunteers are needed to meet the need.

"I've got some really good drivers and they're not afraid to
give up their time, but we could still use more volunteers," he said. "There's
a lot of veterans out there that really need the service."

After getting Robinson secured in the van at 10:30 a.m. on
Monday, Brady handed the keys off to Gary Miller, a Bay City resident and
Vietnam veteran.

On a day that started at 5 a.m., Robinson was Miller's
fourth run of the day with six more scheduled.

Miller said most of his shifts last 8 to 10 hours, but it is not
uncommon for him to work 17- to 18-hour shifts when taking patients to Veterans
Affairs Hospitals in Detroit, Ann Arbor or Grand Rapids. They wait for the appointment to finish and then drive the vet back home.

"Most of the time, it's pleasant," he said. "You meet a lot
of people they've usually got a lot of stories to tell. We have a list of about
200 (veterans), but we've lost about 30 of them to death."

Veterans can schedule free rides to medical appointments by contacting Brady at 989-525-5164.

The service works for most veterans, but some aren't aware it exists or have special situations. Click here
to read the story of Bay City's Benjamin O. Green, a combat veteran who
served in both the U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Army and who was told by
the Veterans Administration to travel to Detroit six days a week in order to
get free treatment for his prescription painkiller addiction.

Trust fund can help vets

Director of the Michigan Veterans Trust Fund Anne-Marie
Dutcher said as of Sept. 30, 2011 there were 8,990 veterans in Bay County. She estimates the current population to be a couple hundred more than that, making it the 12th
most veteran-populated county in the state.

The volunteer transportation program to medical appoints isn't the only service available to Bay County veterans.

The Michigan Veterans Trust Fund is a support
program unique to the Great Lakes state, Dutcher said. Veterans can apply for grant
assistance to help cover living expenses such as housing, utilities
and car repairs, almost everything except food, she said.

"Unemployment is definitely a big (issue) or under employment,"
she said. "A veteran might be employed and making enough money to get by, but a
lot of times their budgets are tight. The fact that they're so tight on their
budget, if something happens, if they become ill, they might not have enough
money to cover those expenses. Not everybody has sick leave."

So far this year, 58 veterans in Bay County have received a total of
$28,722 in grants, Dutcher said. Through all of 2011, 45 Bay County veterans
received a total of $19,928 in grants.

Dutcher attributes the increase, in part, to the return of
veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan. Thirteen veterans from those two wars have
applied for assistance thus far this year. Last year, six applied.

The fund, which is not supported by tax payers but rather
through cash, bonds and equity investments, has distributed $1.3 million
dollars throughout the state so far this year.

To date, there have been 2,138 applications submitted for
grants through the fund, which accounts for no more than 0.3 percent of the 704,000 veterans in
the state. Of the 2,138 applications submitted to the state board, 1,314 were
approved.

"We try to talk about it everywhere and anywhere to get the
word out about it," Dutcher said. "(The low number of applicants) means a lot
of veterans are able to manage just fine on their own, we're trying to catch
those veterans that do need the assistance."

Bruce Douglas sits on the Bay County Veterans Trust Fund
Committee and is responsible for sorting through the applications that come
into the county office.

Veterans in need can go into the veterans services offices on the second floor of the Bay County Building, 515 Center in Bay City, and Douglas said he or Karen Miller, Bay County's Michigan Veterans Trust Fund agent, will help them fill out an application.

Douglas said veterans only are eligible to receive aid once every three months. He said not everyone will receive assistance but he will try to work with applicants who truly are in need.

Douglas, a Vietnam veteran who works on a volunteer basis,
also handles distributing money to veterans and their families for funeral
arrangements. He said the job weighs heavy on him.

"When I leave her some days, I'm in tears," he said. "My
wife asks me why I do it. I do it because somebody has to do it, someone with
some integrity to not talk about who they're helping."